Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Brent · London
Alcove Units in Kenton
We make alcove units for homes in Kenton, designed around the room you have. Your alcove unit is designed at a visit to your home and built in our workshop.
- Room to work in an alcove
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Space for a growing book collection
Need alcove units in Kenton?
Alcove units in Kenton
A classic layout is a low cupboard with open shelves above. The cupboards take the things you’d rather not see, and the shelves are for books and favourite objects. The cupboard top gives you a ledge for a lamp, a speaker or a plant. Heights are agreed with you to suit the room and your things. We make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and strong birch plywood, with a painted finish, and people most often get in touch about units that sit well with original features and worn or badly fitted alcove units.
Plenty of semis and interwar houses have been extended at the back or had the back rooms knocked through, which matters around Kenton, where homes like these are a big part of the housing. In a long knocked-through room, alcove units can run the full length of one wall. An extension’s plasterboard walls need different fixings from the original brick or block.
A quote in writing is the clearest record of what we’ve agreed. It describes the alcove unit we’ve designed for the room, what it is made from and how it is finished, and the workshop works from it.
- Location
- Kenton (HA3, HA7, HA1)
- Area
- Brent
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Where it’s made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Made from
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Working days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
From workshop to your room
At the end, we tidy up and lift the floor protection. Before we leave, we go over the finished piece together and explain how to look after the paint. How long fitting takes depends on the size and number of units, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. Some interwar and suburban streets have driveways, which can make unloading easier, so let us know at the design visit. Otherwise, details of permits or nearby bays help. Doorways, stairs and floors are covered on the way in.
- You get in touch and tell us about the room and the alcoves, and a rough sketch helps if you have one.
- At the design visit, we measure each alcove and go through the layout with you.
- You receive a quote in writing setting out the units, materials and finish, so you can look it over in your own time.
- The units are built in our workshop, using moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The units are fitted in your home and scribed to follow the walls, so they sit tight to the chimney breast.
Preparing the room
- Tell us about parking near your home
- Let us know about any meters, fuse boards or boilers in the area
- Clear the area where the furniture is going
Starting with a design visit
To make a start, use our contact form and tell us which room you have in mind. From there, we arrange a design visit to measure up and talk through your ideas, and send you a quote in writing afterwards.
Advice
Places near Kenton
More for homes in Kenton
Flats, conversions and lettings
Some blocks ask for notice before trades arrive, often through a building manager or concierge. If there’s a lift, it may need booking, and its size matters when we plan the sections. Mention it when you get in touch.
If you live in a flat, getting the furniture in is planned from the start. We measure the stairs, landings, lift and doorways as well as the room, so the furniture can be made in sections that fit through.
Questions we are often asked
Can you make alcove units for a home in Kenton?
Yes. Kenton is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Brent and London. To get started, you can send us a few details through our contact form with some details.
Do I need permission for fitted furniture in a conservation area?
Normally not: conservation area rules mainly cover the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. If your home is listed, works inside that affect its character can require listed building consent, so check with the council first. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
Do I need to be at home on fitting day?
Someone needs to be there to let us in. After that, you don’t need to stay in the room, though we like to go over the furniture with you at the end.
How long will the fitting take?
The fitting depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and your quote sets out the fitting days. We will talk you through what fitting day involves before we start.
Do both alcove units have to match?
That is your choice. Matching units give a balanced, formal look around the chimney breast, but you might want a desk on one side and cupboards on the other. Shared details, such as the plinth and paint colour, keep them looking related.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
An outside wall can be colder and damper than an inside one, so ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps. If there’s damp, it should be sorted before anything is fitted.
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
Flat-pack and off-the-shelf furniture has its place. In a room with square walls and standard sizes, it can work well, and it is easy to buy.
The real difference is in the fit: scribed edges, a level base on an uneven floor and furniture that meets the ceiling, skirting and picture rail. In an older room, standard units rarely manage that.
Caring for painted furniture
None of this takes much effort. Here’s what we suggest:
- Talk to your electrician early if you want new sockets
- Make a rough list of what the cupboards need to hold
- Let us know about stairs, parking and access early
- Deal with any damp on the chimney breast first
To clean painted units, a soft cloth that’s barely damp is enough. Skip scouring pads and harsh cleaners, which can dull or mark the paint. Dry the surface afterwards.
If a damp patch appears near a unit, look into it early. Damp needs its cause fixing by the right trade.
Kenton homes and alcove units
About 84% of the homes in the neighbourhood around Kenton went up between 1919 and 1939, and about 7% between 1945 and 1972, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. That matters for alcove units, as the build era decides whether a wall is solid brick, lath and plaster, block or plasterboard. Kenton is partly covered by a conservation area, going by Historic England’s data. The controls in a conservation area are mostly about the outside of buildings, so furniture fitted inside a house does not normally need planning permission. If you’re unsure, check with the council before work starts. The ULEZ, run by TfL, takes in all of London, so Brent is inside it. So any van that delivers or fits furniture in Kenton is covered by it. We go through parking and access at the design visit.
If you live near Preston Park, a room that looks out on trees deserves a design that leaves the window alone. Headstone Manor, about 2.2 miles west, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. If your own home is a period one, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. For an older house near Church of St Mary, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at.
Kenton is about 6 miles south-east of Kilburn, in the London Borough of Brent. Kenton is part of the area we cover. Our Brent coverage includes Kenton, along with the rest of the borough.
Design visits and fitting in HA3, HA7 and HA1 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. If your home is on a street such as Retreat Close, Kenton Road and Woodgrange Avenue, or close by, we can arrange a design visit for alcove units. Kenton is near the A4006; on busy main roads, unloading alcove units takes a little planning. If you are just outside Kenton, we also cover South Kenton (1 mile south), Northwick Park (1 mile south-west), Greenhill (1 mile west), Wealdstone (1 mile north-west) and Harrow on the Hill (2 miles south-west). Across the rest of Brent, our area takes in Kilburn (6 miles south-east), Neasden (3 miles south-east), Harlesden (4 miles south-east), Wembley (2 miles south), Queen's Park (6 miles south-east) and Church End (4 miles south-east).
What’s near Kenton
Around Kenton, we cover homes near Uxendon Manor Primary School and The New Moon pub and the streets around them. For rail, the closest station is Kenton station, about 0.5 miles south-west of the centre. Nearby you’ll also find St. Mark's Hospital (0.9 miles south-west) and St. Anns (1.3 miles west). For a walk, there’s Masons Field.
Pricing alcove units in Kenton
We quote each job after the design visit, because no two rooms are the same. This is what makes the difference:
- How square the room is
- The finish: spray painted or hand painted
- Doors and drawers, and how many
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
Because every job is different, the cost is set out in a written quote after the visit. A larger piece means more material and more time. Doors, drawers, internal fittings and the finish make up most of the rest.
Before the design visit
These details help when you contact us:
- Approximate measurements of the space
- Your postcode and the borough
- Examples of the look you’re after
- What kind of home it is, and which floor the room is on
You do not need exact measurements to get started. Everything is measured properly when we visit, including how level the floor and ceiling are. To get started, fill in our short enquiry form. The written quote follows the visit.